Dakota Valkyrie
January 19th, 2009, 04:03 PM
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One phone call could help solve one of the oldest cold case crimes in Bay County history, which could unravel another series of mysterious deaths, but time is working against investigators.
It has been more than 35 years since 13-year-old Jan Rohrer left her home to walk three blocks to school. Her body was discovered a year later in a field in Zilwaukee Township.
"We know there are witnesses out there who could come forward, and we keep hoping someone will give us a call," said Detective Dean Vosler, of the Bay City Police Department.
Rohrer, a blond-haired, blue-eyed eighth-grader at MacGregor, was an honor student active in basketball. She was seen prior to school at about 7:30 a.m. by a school secretary. After that, she vanished.
There was speculation she had run away from home, but police said she had left $7 on her dresser and took enough money for the school's hot lunch program that day. School officials described her as a good student who didn't cause trouble and who was popular.
Hunters discovered her skeletal remains on Nov. 8, 1974, in a soggy farm field near high-tension electric towers off River Road.
The investigation has shown she died a violent death and it is a murder case, but statements from witnesses who know details of her death have to be forthcoming.
"We know there are people who can tell us these things, can provide evidence still," he said. "We want them to come forward now."
Another set of strange circumstances is connected to the Rohrer case, he said.
"It was very strange, for example, that Jan Rohrer's next-door neighbor, Frances Mataszewski was found dead in a ditch about 18 months earlier," Vosler said. She had been killed by a blow to her face and nose and probably drowned in the ditch.
Another strange death involved Mataszewski's mother, who also resided at the home. She was found dead in her bed on the same day Jan Rohrer disappeared.
Then, about two years after Rohrer's body was found, Mataszewski's son committed suicide with a pistol in the home.
Vosler said there are too many deaths involved to be merely coincidences and he wants to get more information from people, he says, "who know what happened."http://www.mlive.com/news/bay-city/index.ssf/2009/01/police_crimestoppers_team_up_t.html
One phone call could help solve one of the oldest cold case crimes in Bay County history, which could unravel another series of mysterious deaths, but time is working against investigators.
It has been more than 35 years since 13-year-old Jan Rohrer left her home to walk three blocks to school. Her body was discovered a year later in a field in Zilwaukee Township.
"We know there are witnesses out there who could come forward, and we keep hoping someone will give us a call," said Detective Dean Vosler, of the Bay City Police Department.
Rohrer, a blond-haired, blue-eyed eighth-grader at MacGregor, was an honor student active in basketball. She was seen prior to school at about 7:30 a.m. by a school secretary. After that, she vanished.
There was speculation she had run away from home, but police said she had left $7 on her dresser and took enough money for the school's hot lunch program that day. School officials described her as a good student who didn't cause trouble and who was popular.
Hunters discovered her skeletal remains on Nov. 8, 1974, in a soggy farm field near high-tension electric towers off River Road.
The investigation has shown she died a violent death and it is a murder case, but statements from witnesses who know details of her death have to be forthcoming.
"We know there are people who can tell us these things, can provide evidence still," he said. "We want them to come forward now."
Another set of strange circumstances is connected to the Rohrer case, he said.
"It was very strange, for example, that Jan Rohrer's next-door neighbor, Frances Mataszewski was found dead in a ditch about 18 months earlier," Vosler said. She had been killed by a blow to her face and nose and probably drowned in the ditch.
Another strange death involved Mataszewski's mother, who also resided at the home. She was found dead in her bed on the same day Jan Rohrer disappeared.
Then, about two years after Rohrer's body was found, Mataszewski's son committed suicide with a pistol in the home.
Vosler said there are too many deaths involved to be merely coincidences and he wants to get more information from people, he says, "who know what happened."http://www.mlive.com/news/bay-city/index.ssf/2009/01/police_crimestoppers_team_up_t.html